Thank you, Chris Matthews.

Brooks does that every day.

But, my god, what an awesome performance.  This is going to be an absolutely epic election.

When Pat Buchanan says a black guy gave the best speech he ever head, that’s the ball game.

The only buzzkill was Peggy Noonan this morning.

In other shocking developments of reporters behaving honestly, here’s The Dallas Morning News interviewing Hillary supporters who feel that Obama healed some wounds: “He covered all the issues important to me – the ones why I supported Hillary. Now we’re going forward on all those issues with Obama.”

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/politics/national/stories/DN-txreax_29pol.ART.State.Edition2.4e2702d.html

Of course, not to be a buzz kill, the AP shits all over what was easily one of greatest political speeches of all time.  No surprise there.

It will be very interesting to see how these same people react to the rethug convention (if and when).  Can and will react instinctively and continue their worship of st. bbq no matter what he says?

And with even that said, if the campaign can expose the American voters in general to things like this speech I think it’s game-set-match.  Assuming of course most of them will give up on 45 minutes of American Gladiators to watch the speech.

Oh Obama, I love you, you’re a rock star now buddy, you made it big time. Nice job hiring Britany Spear’s stage crew. And all the fireworks…you a dream come true. All of your Hollywood/Elitist friends are proud of you. You made so many wonderful promises, but what worries me is whos gonna pay for all your big government promises? I mean Obama dude, somebody has to pay the bills my friend… you bashed president Bush for 20,000 time, a new milestone for bashing a sitting president, you Obama, are a man of character.

Bob K, once, just once, I’d love for you to list some of the promises that you don’t think Obama can afford to keep. I’d love for you to explain how his plans aren’t sufficient to keep those promises.

Also, I wish for world peace. Let’s see which one happens first…

Weak. I’ve seen better trolls, BobK. Did you know that some trolls actually have style and wit? Just because you’re an asshole doesn’t mean you have to look like a stupid asshole. Try it sometime.

mean Obama dude, somebody has to pay the bills my friend…

Funny you should mention that.

Because the fact is that McCain’s tax policy will increase the national debt by 1.2 trillion dollars more than Obama’s.

Oh dear lawd, McCain! How are you going to pay those bills? Your piss is not legal tender!

(Am I doing it right, Bob?)

bobk,
  Ill just never understand that kind of post, I guess for me it all comes back to iokiyar (i always mess acronyms up). Do you remember 2000? Or more to the point can you conceive of a universe in which a republican nominee wouldnt attack a sitting democratic president if that president had approval ratings in the 20’s? Whats the point of your post? Nothing of substance and it really to my mind helps obama more than hurts him. Even if your goal is to get eyes on what you say, its hurting your guy, unless of course youre on the left side of things and have a really wacky way of supporting obama. If thats the case more power to you. As far as how to pay for things, Obama did mention erasing tax loopholes used to avoid taxes and its not like all the ideas he has will be like christmas morning, all bought at once and placed under the tree on one day. If the only thing you have is how will he pay for it, youve lost.

Is that really the best you can do BobK?  You’re just repeating that tired old “Democrat == Hollywood elite” slur.  Come on, I’m sure you can do better than that.

I think you even have the potential to criticize Obama using correctly spelled and grammatically complete sentences.

Ill just never understand that kind of post, I guess for me it all comes back to iokiyar (i always mess acronyms up). Do you remember 2000? Or more to the point can you conceive of a universe in which a republican nominee wouldnt attack a sitting democratic president if that president had approval ratings in the 20’s? Whats the point of your post? Nothing of substance and it really to my mind helps obama more than hurts him.

What I find amusing is the way that fuckwits throw out that “criticism of a sitting president” trope like they think anyone gives a shit. BobK himself doesn’t give a shit; he perched on a bar stool through the Clinton years and said the nastiest things about Bill, his wife, and his daughter. It never once occurred to him that that might be inappropriate, because no one gives a shit. But somehow he thinks there’s someone else out there who cares, someone else who can be offended, even though he is not. It’s hilarious. All that ammo wasted, blasting at shadows.

McCain’s not going to be able to follow this very well, and it’s not just because Obama’s got all the good points, is ‘way better looking, and is an extremely talented public speaker.

It’s because of yet another reason not to vote for McCain: Nobody starts off as a great orator, but if you have to do it, you make the effort. You practice, you hire a coach, you get some recording equipment, etc. But it’s work. Obama doubtless worked his ass off on this speech—not just the practice, but the initial focus on what he wanted to say, how he wanted to come off.  That’s real brain sweat, and it probably took hours, maybe days.

McCain is probably doing the equivalent of working his ass off too. But he just doesn’t have the ability to focus like Obama does for any length of time. He probably delegated as much of the effort of his speech (writing, stage direction, etc.) as he could—arguably the most critical thing he does in the campaign—to his handlers.  Basically, he’s just going to get up and speak his lines, like an actor. He’s probably going to speak them very well, but it’ll be a lot of work for him.  And he’s not up to that kind of work.

And for the next president, the next eight years is going to be like Hercules and those stables.  You know how Obama has almost no grey hair? By 2016, he’ll look like a Q-Tip.

McCain apparently picked a woman as VP, so now the media can finally move on from their trauma of being positive about a Democrat and talk about how alienating Obama is, again. Because we feminists would totally vote against our interests if a woman was on the ticket, RIGHT?

Man, not even BobK can come up with a substantive objection to Obama’s speech?  Just more of that “Obama is a celebrity!” shrieking I’ve been getting for weeks now?  Shit, I think this one’s in the bag…

McCain apparently picked a woman as VP

I’ll believe it when I see it. I hold that a Republican cannot choose a woman VP, and cannot win with one on the ticket. See 1 Tim. 2:12

It is Palin, they must be really desperate.

After we watched the speech last night, I turned to G and said, “Damn, he backed McCain into a corner!”

Seriously, how are the Republicans going to do what they do best—personal smears—after Obama called them out on it right on national TV?  Any independents who watch the Republican convention are going to be turned off if all they hear is that Obama is a shallow celebrity so you shouldn’t elect him.

It was a brilliant speech, and part of what made it so brilliant is that he walked right up to Republican bullshit and pulled the mask off each and every one of their scare tactics.

I know McCain is thinking, “Hey, I’ll pick a chick as my veep, then I’ll get all the Hillary voters!”

The first thing I thought was “Hey, Alaska’s turned out to be Republican Corruption Mecca—yeah, let’s do more to tie Alaska’s out-of-control political corruption to the GOP.”

The second thing I thought was, “Hey, politician who’s not experienced with hardball national politics?’ Great, let’s start grilling her on the war, McCain’s ‘C-word,’ and every single GOP embarrassment of the last eight years. “Do you agree with Senator McCain, Gov. Palin, that women shouldn’t be paid the same as men?” Welcome to James Stockdale, Part II.

M. Kate, you are right. I thought that way all along.

Also, I don’t think McCain did very well w/his pick. They just killed their whole “Barack is inexperienced” argument. Governor for only a 1/2 term?

My take on the pundits: I was happy to watch the speech on PBS, where the pundits could easily be turned off the moment Jim Lehrer quietly started commenting, and where half the blood screen wasn’t taken up by chyrons and other useless infoturd graphics (yes, I took a peek at CNN).

If there’s anything I hope Americans are learning, it’s that they don’t need to stay around after the speech to watch politically compromised gasbags telling them what they just saw and heard for themselves.

I mean, really, look at the comments of those highly-paid expert pundits posted above—do they show any more insight and intellectual sophistication than the brain-dead comments of our own BobK (who, I’m betting, thinks he’ll never have to pay back his credit card debts)?

Reliable, the SF Chronicle’s token pet conservative couldn’t find anything intelligent to say. Shorter Debra Saunders: Obama gave his speech in a temple, unlike Town Hall McCain!!!11!!!!. (Hopefully, McCain knows how many town halls he owns.)

re McCain’s VP pick, the only questions is how long it will take him to call her a cunt or a trollop. Betting pool?

Well, McCain just threw away the Religious Right’s vote. I don’t even know yet whether she’s pro-choice, but it doesn’t matter. She’s suspect.

Oh yes they did!

http://www.sadlyno.com/archives/11317.html

Mythago-

She’s extreme, extreme pro life.

I know McCain is thinking, “Hey, I’ll pick a chick as my veep, then I’ll get all the Hillary voters!”

The first thing I thought was “Hey, Alaska’s turned out to be Republican Corruption Mecca—yeah, let’s do more to tie Alaska’s out-of-control political corruption to the GOP.”

Yeah, that’s about what I was thinking too.  McCain decided to balance out his anti-choice, screw-you-Ledbetter, trollop, cunt, strip party at Stirgus reputation by putting a chick on the ticket.  And, hey, it worked for Mondale, right?

She’s extreme, extreme pro life

Anti-choice. We have to get into the habit of calling these Xtian fantasist RWAs what they are.

Sorry, Gracchus. Anti-choice, I have to remind myself of saying that.

http://www.stoptheaclu.com/archives/2008/05/29/vice-president-sarah-palin/

Are you aware of the fact that Sarah Palin-Chavez proposed and pushed through the largest socialistic tax increase in the history of the world? It’s a 400% increase on the state’s #1 taxpayer that funds roughly 90% of the state’s budget. (See ACES)

Speaking of budgets… do you know that she increased the fy09 operating budget by 23%?

And what do you think of her left-wing socialist energy rebate debit card for $100.00 and utility reductions for every Alaskan resident? And people wonder why she has high approval ratings… ha! If you can’t figure that out, you’ve never been to Alaska were people love free money from the government!!!

From the same comment thread:

Here’s what Palin said about abortion…

“I’m going to respect the sensitivity and the privacy aspects of this issue and as governor, I will abide by the laws that have been interpreted by the Supreme Court.”

When asked if the opportunity arose as governor for her to ban abortion, would she?
Her response: “Theoretical, hypothetical questions that have to do with a subject like this, that are being led by a campaign in order to divide, it’s unfortunate. That’s my final comment on it.”

Scroll down the page for a picture of Sarah Palin smiling with the Alliance for Reproductive Justice:

http://www.alaskaprochoice.org/

Grammar, are you trying to say she’s pro choice? She is NOT!

And what do you think of her left-wing socialist energy rebate debit card for $100.00 and utility reductions for every Alaskan resident? And people wonder why she has high approval ratings… ha! If you can’t figure that out, you’ve never been to Alaska were people love free money from the government!!!

They really do.  I think you get something like a $1000 back every year on your income tax statement just for living in the state.  Abso-freak’n-ri-damn-diculous.  But they’ve got such a small population and such a large income from state natural resources that they can afford it.

And son in the army; another child with Downs.

My co-worker is saying Alaska is one of most heavily government-supplemented per capita state.  Any links/info on that? 

This pick is making me a little giddy.

Oh, and the whole state trooper ex-brother-in-law fiasco is great.

Grammar, are you trying to say she’s pro choice? She is NOT!

What I am trying to say is she has not been the strong advocate for anti-choice talking points that the GOP wants and needs. She is obviously trying to straddle the fence and play for both teams to bolster her image. She’s a flip-flopper. The Religious Right will not unite behind her. And I’m not kidding about 1 Timothy 2:12. They take the literal meaning of the Bible very seriously.

Hillary Clinton supporter Congresswoman Debbie Weisseman-Schultz-

“Sarah Palin is naive, inexperienced, unethical, and unprepared.”

Go Congresswoman!

Oh dear lawd, McCain! How are you going to pay those bills?

You don’t understand.  When he was a prisoner in Hanoi for 5 1/2 years, John McCain never paid any bills.

“They really do.  I think you get something like a $1000 back every year on your income tax statement just for living in the state.  Abso-freak’n-ri-damn-diculous.  But they’ve got such a small population and such a large income from state natural resources that they can afford it. “

You’re right.  Far better to privatize all those national resources; that money would be much more useful padding Exxon’s profit margins than in the hands of the actual people living on the land from whence the resources came.  Sheeesh.

And Mark, that link is disgusting.  The misogyny directed at Hillary by supposed ‘liberal’ males was appalling, but their contempt was limited by the fact that she was (1) a Democrat and (2) old enough to not be considered conventionally ‘sexy’.  With Palin, who’s young, pretty, and Republican, the loathsomeness committed by people supposedly on ‘our side’ is going to reach unimaginable proportions.  DKOS is already calling her a ‘RMILF’ - that is, a ‘running mate I’d like to…’ yeah. 

Of course, McCain was probably planning on exactly that, using Palin to attract feminist Democrats turned off by the anti-Hillary misogyny.  The ‘liberals’ who are about to go nuts against Palin for having the audacity to be female and sexy and not sexually available to them are playing right into the Republicans’ hands.

“Sarah Palin is naive, inexperienced, unethical, and unprepared.”

I’d also like to point out that ‘inexperienced’, ‘unready’, ‘not up to the responsibility’ - terms like that, which are tinged with racism when turned against a black person, are equally tinged with sexism when turned against a woman, simply because so many women, like so many minorities, were told by white men that they weren’t ready or they weren’t experienced enough to hold office or be promoted to higher management.  So just be careful when going hog-wild against Palin’s record; to a lot of listeners, it sounds just like the excuses they were given to keep the glass ceiling in place…

MTS—

A woman made that point. Now shut the fuck up with your fake outrage.

“How, exactly, do they plan to do this with the likely patronizing and belittling that she will be subjected to? “

Because the patronizing and belittling is going to come from the Democratic Party, and is going to be sexist as all hell.  See Mike’s link for a preview of coming attractions.

“A woman made that point. Now shut the fuck up with your fake outrage. “

Alan Keyes has made some ‘points’ about racism, too; do I have to listen to him because he’s black?

MTS—

Tell me one thing Sarah Palin has done for women’s issues in Alaska. Name one thing.

“Tell me one thing Sarah Palin has done for women’s issues in Alaska. Name one thing. “

Huh?  I don’t support Palin - she’d make a horrid VP, she’s a hard right fundie with all sorts of ghastly positions - but so is McCain, and yet there are PUMAs supporting him to punish Obama and the Democrats.  My only points are that (1) the attacks on Palin from liberal men are going to be even more misogynist than their attacks on Hillary were, and that (2) these attacks are going to push undecided women and women angry about the treatment of Hillary closer to sitting out the election or voting for McCain.

MTS, My name is Mark. If you’re going to refer to my “link”, please get it right. Beyond that, I wasn’t linking to it because I thought it was funny or appropriate. I was linking to it because I was surprised by the speed at which it appeared (although, given that its at Sadly, No!, I prolly shouldn’t be).

You’re right.  Far better to privatize all those national resources; that money would be much more useful padding Exxon’s profit margins than in the hands of the actual people living on the land from whence the resources came.  Sheeesh.

If Alaskans wouldn’t complain about the heavy hand of government weighing them down while taking government money, the hypocrisy wouldn’t be quite so apparent.  Alaska Republicans who talk about how they did everything for themselves without government assistance while cashing their subsidy checks are either idiots or deluded, I’m never quite sure which.

Timothy 2:12 (New International Version)
New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society

 
12 I do not permit a woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she must be silent.

MTS, you’re (deliberately?) missing the point. McCain made all kinds of arguments about how Obama is too young and too inexperienced. The person he picked as VP is young and inexperienced. How to reconcile the two? From the GOP talking points I’ve heard, the only thing they can come up with is But That’s Different!

And I’m not kidding about 1 Timothy 2:12. They take the literal meaning of the Bible very seriously.

Not to mention that she is a mother. WTF is she doing running a state instead of running her household while her husband provides for the family?

Alaska Republicans who talk about how they did everything for themselves without government assistance while cashing their subsidy checks are either idiots or deluded…

What’s even more hypocritical is that Alaskan Republicans like to think of themselves as libertarians, which is probably why Palin found it necessary to straddle the fence on abortion, not that Alaskans would ever vote a Democrat into statewide office.

the AP shits all over what was easily one of greatest political speeches of all time.

Not without precedent:

“The cheek of every American must tingle with shame as he reads the silly, flat and dishwatery utterances of the man who has to be pointed out to intelligent foreigners as the President of the United States.”—the Chicago Tribune reviews the Gettysburg Address.

Man, it is AMAZING how they managed to fill up an 80,000 seat stadium with “hollywood elites.”  Since obviously no regular people support Obama.

All of your Hollywood/Elitist friends are proud of you.

You mean like Hollywood John McCain, star of at least four feature motion pictures? Subject of five different feature biographies? Or Hollywood Fred Thompson, star of dozens of films and television shows?

You mean that Hollywood, dumbass?

“Hollywood/Elitist”? Is that a multiclass? I was pretty sure they got rid of the Elitist Prestige Class in DnD 4E.